


Trouble Town

by themonkeycabal



Series: Run 'Verse [24]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 16:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6914068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themonkeycabal/pseuds/themonkeycabal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint scanned the lobby for his target. Not that it was difficult to find the man; Bucky Barnes was a lonely island of terror on a bench near the info desk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble Town

Clint scanned the lobby for his target. Not that it was difficult to find the man; Bucky Barnes was a lonely island of terror on a bench near the info desk. 

Clint's next scan of the lobby was more about trying to see if any of the nervous workers had called SWAT, or the Navy Seals, or somebody else who would mess up Stark's building and piss him off. 

Gary, the day security manager, nodded to Clint and looked relieved. Security really didn't like having that guy in their lobby; he made them twitchy. Which was funny because none of them even knew who he actually was and just how twitchy he should really make them. 

But, they knew the creepy guy was somehow tied to Darcy, and Cap told them he was okay, and most people couldn't argue with Cap and not feel like an asshole. Except Stark, who already _was_ an asshole. And since Stark hadn't weighed in on it, they had to take that as some degree of tacit approval, because if he didn't want something to happen in his building, then everybody within five city blocks would know it. 

Mostly, the security team all still felt pretty crappy about never realizing there was a Hydra shit-head in their midst. Demarco, the graveyard security manager, had explained it all to him the morning after the attack, when Barnes was already camped out — they liked Darcy and if he was her guy and he wanted to haunt their lobby and glare at anybody looking shifty, well, okay. They figured somehow they deserved it for not stopping the half-assed Hydra strike, however much Barnes gave them all the creeps. Seemed harsh, but that was their deal, not Clint's. 

Clint tossed Gary a thumbs up. "She's awake. Gonna be fine."

Gary grinned and let out a long breath. He'd felt really, really badly about the attack, more so than anybody else; the Hydra guy had been on his shift, after all. He took it personally, and even offered to resign. Pepper Potts herself stepped in and told him she wouldn't accept his resignation, particularly since he'd been at the dentist at the time with a broken tooth and that was just one of those things that happened, and it didn't make any of what happened his fault. 

Then she went off to video conference with Happy Hogan and talk him out of committing hara-kiri or something, because there was a guy who took Darcy's protection very much to heart. And not even being on the other coast eased any of his guilt. Clint figured it was only a matter of time before Hogan relocated to New York and started shadowing Darcy like a grumpy, overprotective bulldog. 

And speaking of overprotective and grumpy, Clint came even with Barnes and nodded down at the man. "She's awake," he repeated. "Want to go see her?"

Barnes watched him with cold, sharp eyes and asked, "How is she?"

"She's got a wicked headache and she's in a really, really shitty mood," Clint told him candidly. Because, wow, was she in a shitty mood. Not that he blamed her. For sixty-one hours after the whatever-it-was blew up, Darcy was unconscious in the med lab. When she finally woke up, she was clearly in pain, then she puked for a while, and then she tried to smother herself with a pillow on account of the headache. So, basically, she'd had better weeks. 

"Bruce says she's going to be fine. Blood work came back clean. They've got some more scans they want to do now that she's awake, but the first batch were all clear. He's got no clue what happened, but Stark thinks she, like, time travelled in the eight seconds she disappeared from the security footage. I don't think anybody really buys that, but he was desperate, you know."

Barnes nodded and his eyes slipped away from Clint's to wander restlessly over the lobby again. "She say anything?"

"Nothing, really. Just that she needed to think and that Stark needed to destroy the box." 

Looking down at the other man, Clint contemplated his presence. He wasn't sure what to make of it. 

Clint had been pretty certain Darcy was falling for the guy, as horrifying as that thought was, but he was starting to think it went both ways. Especially after Barnes turned up not even thirty minutes after the attack and demanded they let him go out with them to track down the Hydra dipshits. He'd caught up to one of the guys and it took both Clint and Cap to pull Barnes off the man before he killed him. Of course, if it was Clint and somebody hurt Natasha he'd probably do the same. 

Oh, wait, somebody had hurt Natasha and it was the guy sitting in front of him. 

Damn it, life was complicated. 

"So, you want to go see her?" Clint asked again. It was better to stay focused on Darcy, than think about Nat's history. "Stark okayed it."

Barnes gave him a skeptical look.

"Alright, fine, he said 'rarrggh, I'm going to my workshop'. But that's pretty much the same thing as okaying it." 

Standing up, Barnes started walking off, but he didn't head to the elevator, he started for the doors. "She'll call when she's ready."

Clint blinked and watched him go for a second before jogging after him. "Come on. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you." 

He was a little puzzled about why he was trying, but Darcy probably would be glad to see Barnes. Still a horrifying thought. But Darcy was his trainee and if it would make her smile then he'd do it. And if it gave Clint more opportunity to learn what was going on between the pair of them, then he'd take it. Not that that was his primary motivation. Not at all. 

Clint groaned when the other man kept walking. "She's your partner. Look, if it was Nat, I'd be—"

Barnes stopped so suddenly Clint almost smacked into the assassin's back. Spinning on his heel, Barnes glared at him, but Clint didn't flinch back, just returned the stare with a raised eyebrow. Barnes was the one to look away. 

"She's got her family up there. She's fine," he muttered quietly. 

Clint raised his eyes to the ceiling and wished Cap was there instead of him. Or Nat, not that Nat wanted to be anywhere near Barnes. Actually, Clint was more than okay with them never meeting again. So, never mind. He'd just have to figure it out. 

"Hey, are you hungry?" Clint asked, because it was a good distraction. Also, with the excitement of Darcy waking up, dry heaving for five minutes, and then scowling at them all while using every swear word she'd ever learned in about six different languages, he'd totally missed lunch. 

Barnes looked at him but the glare faded to an uncertain frown. 

"I'm hungry. Let's go down to the diner and grab a burger or something. They've got good burgers." 

He brushed past Barnes and headed out the door, not looking back to see if the man was following him. He really wished Natasha was here, she was so much better at this sort of thing than he was. No, wait, no he didn't. Still didn't. Besides, Nat was out with Cap and Wilson tracking down the rest of this Hydra cell. Clint was on his own with this one. 

Darcy saw something in the Winter Soldier worth fighting for. Cap saw it, too, but Cap was hardly an unbiased observer. And, okay, so maybe Darcy wasn't so unbiased anymore, either, but she had been at the beginning, and she'd even stood up to Cap for Barnes way back when she first met him. Darcy didn't do that sort of thing without a good reason and Clint trusted her instincts. Well, her instincts about people, anyway. Not so much about operations — _Minnesota_. But, he couldn't ignore that Barnes had bailed her out there; another point for him. And he went for her in China, only missing a dashing rescue by minutes when Darcy busted herself out. 

(Hot damn, Clint was still so proud of her for that. That was Grade-A stuff, totally worthy of Strike Team Delta's little baby agent.) 

Clint wanted to get to know this guy. The guy Darcy would go to bat for against her BFF and her dad. And the guy Cap thought the world of. A lot of what he knew about the Winter Soldier came from Natasha, but now he wanted to see who he was for himself. Plus, there was a part of him that enjoyed watching Barnes beat the shit out of the Hydra fuckwit. It was satisfying, because, yeah, that guy had hurt his trainee. And, it made him feel a little better about Darcy being out with him. Coulson said they were a good team, but now he knew that Barnes wasn't going to take any threat to Darcy lightly. 

He felt the dark shadow settle into step next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Clint watched Barnes. The man had his head down, the brim of his cap tugged low over his eyes, and his hands were shoved into the pockets of his jeans. This was not the ruthless engine of destruction he'd always expected. Yeah, yeah, he could turn that way at the drop of a hat, Clint wasn't stupid enough to not understand that, but Barnes wasn't that now. He was a dude who sat in the lobby for two solid days after the attack, because his partner was hurt and unconscious. Clint could totally respect that. 

"Gonna give me a talk?" Barnes asked, giving Clint his own side-eyed glance. 

"About … what, exactly?" Clint asked, frowning, because he didn't want to actually have that talk, because this was not his strength. So he played dumb. "Lunch? Lunch choices are very personal, I don't get between a person and their lunch. I recommend the burgers, but nothing's wrong with an open-faced hot roast beef sandwich."

"What?" Barnes looked a little baffled again.

Clint shrugged. "Darcy would strangle me with my own bowstring if she thought I was, like, giving you a shovel talk or something."

"Shovel talk?"

"It's that 'hurt her and I'll kill you and bury you where nobody will find your body' conversation. Right?"

"Oh."

"Though, you know, hurt her and I'll kill you and bury you where nobody will find your body."

Barnes nodded. "I don't want to hurt her."

"Good. Then, okay. So. Yeah. Lunch. The chicken-fried steak is good, too. Like really good. Shit, I'm hungry."

With a sound that might have been almost a laugh, Barnes shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and stared fixedly at the sidewalk. They stopped at the light and waited to cross. It was a weird, awkward silence. Clint was pretty sure he should say something, but he wasn't quite sure what. 

"Oh, hey, Cap's birthday is Saturday. We're doing a thing. You wanna come?"

"No."

"Really?" Clint asked. "Free food and booze. Best part of knowing a Stark. They throw a hell of a bash."

"No," Barnes repeated. 

"Okay. I mean, I'm sure Cap would love it if you were there. I bet Darcy already tried to badger you into it."

"Yeah. Still no."

The light changed and they started across the street. 

"Look, the thing about Starks," Clint tried again, "that you don't realize until you actually know them, is that they are like crazy loyal. It's weird, because on the surface it's all this abrasive keeping people back stuff. 

"Stark is an obnoxious, arrogant jerk, and I didn't know Howard, but I know people who did, and they said he was like that, too. And Darcy's not as bad, but when I first knew her in New Mexico, she was this snarky, irritating kid who kept swinging wrenches at agents and Coulson had to wrestle her taser away from her."

"Not surprised," Barnes said, sounding amused. 

"Right? Anyway, so, they're obnoxious but they're totally loyal. Once they decide they like you, or whatever it is that goes on in their heads, that's it. You know? They'd do anything for you. It can be kind of weird and intimidating because they're also pretty intense."

"Okay," Barnes said, like he hoped Clint would get to the point soon. Clint hoped he'd get to the point soon, too, because this was sort of getting away from him.

He gathered himself to somehow find what he meant to say, and continued, "When I met Stark, I thought he was just this egocentric jackhole who expected the world to revolve around him. But, then I met Darcy and saw the two of them together, and nope, his world totally revolves around her. I guess my point is that, at the end of the day, they are 100% loyal to each other, no question. He might not like you, but Darcy does, so he'll suck it up. If he didn't want you in the Tower, he would have kicked you out." 

Clint cocked his head and looked at Barnes. "Would you have gone?"

"Yes."

"Right. Okay, so, just so you know." That was a relief. He didn't think Barnes was going to try something, he wanted to stay on Darcy's good side; still it was good to know nobody was going to have to fight him again. Not today, anyway. 

"The rest of us … Darcy says you're okay. I get it's probably really weird, but even if you wanted to show up for like five minutes, nobody'd say anything. I know Thor likes you. He wanted to come down and talk to you today, but Darcy was sort of threatening me, so I made a run for the door."

Barnes looked up at him from under the brim of his cap, an almost smile on his face. "What were you doing?"

Clint huffed, insulted and offended and put-upon and whatever else. "Who says I was doing anything?" Glancing back over at Barnes, who was looking skeptical again, he sighed. "I was trying to get her to smile. It didn't work. And she grabbed an IV stand in a threatening manner."

Barnes didn't give away a lot in his face — everything was in his eyes — but the absolute tenderness for crazy, cranky Darcy on that stone face was impossible to miss. Wow. Darcy might be falling, but Barnes already fell. 

Well, shit, that was not even sort of what Clint had been expecting. He supposed he needed to stop thinking of her as a kid with childish crushes — though, he was pretty sure she'd had a crush on just about all of them at some point. Except maybe Thor; that was always more of a bromance. 

No, she wasn't a kid anymore. Darcy was a grown woman who was competent and smart and funny and gorgeous. It shouldn't come as such a surprise that somebody would fall for her, too. That it was the Winter Soldier … well, actually, maybe that wasn't a shock, either. For all her obnoxious abrasiveness, she was also really good at reading people, and at being patient with them. Clint had plenty of experience with that. 

After the battle of Manhattan, she'd somehow discovered what Loki'd done to him, and she spent months making sure he didn't get too lost in his own head. Between Darcy and Natasha he wasn't ever really alone. It had been sort of irritating at the time, but now he appreciated it, and how much they'd both put into getting him back on his feet. That wasn't unexpected from Natasha, but Darcy'd barely known him. It was just her way. 

So, anyway, you're a brainwashed assassin who doesn't remember who you are, and here's this girl who just will not let you drift away no matter how much you might want to. Clint could see it. Clear as day. Darcy would be a solid spot in his world. And not just that, she'd be the person who saw past the brainwashing, who saw the man underneath, and who wouldn't let Barnes forget he was that man. 

Add in that crazy Stark loyalty, and Barnes knew there was somebody who'd be in his corner no matter what. That had to be a pretty big deal. Especially for the man he used to be. Cap was always talking about him, so he knew the old Barnes was just as loyal. Yeah, he'd respond to that from Darcy. 

Still musing on Darcy, Clint pulled open the door to the diner and stepped in, Barnes close behind. 

"Louise, darling," Clint called out, "you look beautiful as ever."

Louise the diner lady, who Darcy swore was as old as Cap, gave him a sour look and pointed to the booth at the far side of the diner. "Over there."

Clint grinned and headed for the booth. Glancing back at Barnes he said, "She actually likes me."

"Yeah, I can tell," Barnes said dryly. 

They took their seats, and Louise came over to them with menus.

"You want me to like you," she said, "leave better tips, Mr. Barton."

"When will I get you to call me Clint?"

"When I like you." She set down a pair of water glasses and nodded to Barnes. "Good to see you again. How's your girl?"

Barnes gave her a thin smile. "She's been a little sick. But, she's better today." His eyes slid over to Clint, who nodded back. 

"Yep," he confirmed. "Not in a great mood, but doing better. Just some sort of bug, you know."

"Sorry to hear she's sick." Louise cocked her hip and took out her order book, writing something down. "I'll send you home with some matzoh ball soup for her."

"Thank you, ma'am," Barnes said. 

"See?" She pointed at Barnes and gave Clint another sour look. "Manners, Mr. Barton." She glanced back at Barnes and said, "I never did get your name, hon."

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "James."

"Nice to meet you, James. You boys know what you want, or you need a minute?"

"A minute, please," Barnes said. Louise tapped their table and walked away. 

"Burgers, man, I'm telling you," Clint said, sliding his menu towards the edge of the table. Barnes just shrugged and looked down at his own menu. 

Pursing his lips, Clint sat back and watched him. Darcy said it was a long time before he'd talk to somebody other than her. She thought it was conditioning, and she was probably right. Still, while he wasn't exactly chatty, he seemed to be making progress. Clint knew from Thor that not only had Barnes gone to the Tower a month or so ago, but he'd also voluntarily talked to Thor and Banner and Foster. Darcy also somehow got him to go to SHIELD HQ. Yeah, she wasn't going to let this guy slip away. Good. 

He wasn't sure what was going to happen; Barnes was a wanted terrorist, and Clint still couldn't see this ending anywhere happy, but, they'd all had second chances, hadn't they? And, better to have Barnes with them than against them. Come to think of it, that's probably what was going through Coulson's head when he made them partners. That made a lot of sense. Crazy sense, but still. 

"You're staring," Barnes muttered. 

Clint, unbothered, smirked back at him. "Just thinking."

"Thinking Darcy coulda ended up with a better partner?"

"That would make me a pretty enormous hypocrite," Clint told him honestly. "A lot. I brought home a Russian assassin I was supposed to kill. Like I'm going to judge Darcy for doing the same. Though, I mean, she wasn't sent to take you out, or anything," he hurried to add. 

"I know," the other man assured him. "Did I know her? Your partner. She's familiar. I can't figure out why."

Clint sucked on his cheeks and looked over the diner at the other people there. It was after lunch, before dinner, so it was pretty empty. Only a couple truck drivers, and a trio of college kids drinking too much coffee, trying to get through summer classes. 

What did he say to Barnes's question? Yeah, you terrified and tormented her when she was a girl? And even then, it wasn't that simple. God. Darcy would kill him if he broke her assassin. He settled for saying, "You shot her. Twice."

"Twice," Barnes echoed quietly. 

"Once in DC—"

"I remember that."

"And once outside of Odessa." That was easily the worst call Clint had ever gotten. Natasha was down and in a bad way. For a while it was pretty touch and go. She was tough, though, and stubborn. She pulled through, obviously, but it left its mark on her. And he didn't mean the scar. Seeing the Winter Soldier had shaken her for months. 

Frowning, Barnes put his gloved hand to his forehead and rubbed, trying to tease out the memory. It didn't seem to want to come free and he grunted in frustration. "I don't remember. I'm sorry. I don't …" He squinted at Clint. "I'm not that anymore."

"If I thought you were, I'd put you down."

"Good." Barnes pushed his menu to the edge of the table next to Clint's. "Tell her I'm sorry. For whatever that's worth."

"Sure," Clint said with an easy shrug. It wouldn't do much, but he'd tell her. He'd tell her _all_ about this weird ass lunch. And then they'd try to survive the strangeness. 

"I figure Nat and I are at least partly to blame for Darcy, anyway. We trained her. Bad influences, you know."

Barnes gave a rusty chuckle and took a sip of his water. Louise wandered back by to take their orders, and Clint got himself a bacon cheeseburger, while Barnes went with the hot pastrami sandwich. It was a solid choice; Clint couldn't fault it. 

"You guys did good," Barnes said once Louise was back behind the counter. "With Darcy, I mean. She's tough as old boots. Only saw her spook once and she shook it off quick."

"When was that?"

"Minnesota. It wasn't too long after Hydra had her, and there they were again," he explained. 

"Oh, yeah," Clint said with a sage nod. "China was bad."

"She said you talked her through it," Barnes continued, staring at the formica-topped table, not looking at him. "Helped her get it all figured out in her head."

"I've been there a few times. It sucks, and it sucks talking it out, but, — and never tell the shrinks I said this," Clint pointed a warning finger at the other man's face, "it helps."

Looking unimpressed by Clint's warning, he shrugged. "Sure."

"Do you talk to her?"

"Yeah." He propped his elbow on the table and rubbed at his forehead again. "She digs in, it's hard not to talk to her. But, she knows when to back off, too."

"Yeah. I have no idea where she gets the tact from. Maybe her mom?" Clint guessed. "It's totally where she gets her temper and her thing where she'll tell off anybody under the sun. When her mom was here when Darcy was missing, she didn't give Tony an inch. I mean, Rebecca was good with him, but when he started getting kind of nuts, she'd get in his face, and between her and Pepper they could get him to dial it back. A little bit. It's Stark, so, there's only so far he'll dial back, but it's better than any of the rest of us were doing."

"She's stepped between me and a gun three times," Barnes murmured and Clint felt his body go cold and rigid with fear. "I wish she wouldn't do that sort of shit," Barnes sighed, "but I could tell her that a hundred times, and next time it happens, she'll just do it again."

"Christ," Clint groaned. His trainee. A lunatic. He was blaming Natasha for that. And Stark, because Starks were fucking crazy. "I don't know if I want to know. I mean, I kind of want to know so I can yell at her, but at the same time, I don't want to know at all because, fuck, Darcy, what the hell?"

Barnes laughed a little. "Pretty sure yelling at her doesn't work. She yells back."

"No kidding." Clint gave the man a respectful nod. 

Whatever else, it turned out they were both members of the same club — the people who'd had to deal with Darcy at her most stubborn club. Clint was prepared to fight Coulson for the right to be president, because, hey, he trained her. Coulson only dropped her into his lap and then went off to play dead for a year. Barnes was going to have to tough it out longer before he'd be a legitimate candidate. Stark didn't count because, weirdly, he and Darcy were almost the same person. Sure, sure, different in a lot of ways, but sometimes so creepy identical it was … creepy.

"Hey, so, how's she doing?" Clint asked. 

Barnes stared at him for a second, trying to guess what Clint was after. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, in general," Clint waved a hand vaguely around. "You've spent more time with her lately. It's been kind of a rough year. So … how do you think she's doing?" 

"Oh." Barnes pushed his water glass around the table with his finger while he thought about it. "Okay."

"Geez, guy, come on," Clint groaned. "I'm not asking for secrets, but, friend of Darcy to friend of Darcy."

"China shook her, you know that," Barnes said, his voice tight. "But, she's okay. Kind of fired up after the fiasco with that other SHIELD."

"Have you seen her suit?"

"The armor?" Barnes asked, then shook his head. "No, but she told me about it." 

"She's going to start a war," Clint said. And he'd repeat it to anybody who'd listen. He'd never seen Darcy that angry before, and like he told Natasha, this was one of the times when she was very, very like her dad in a not funny way. 

"Maybe," Barnes said with a shrug, unbothered by the prospect. "I don't think she's trying to, but she'll stand when it happens."

"You think it'll happen?"

Barnes shrugged again. "I don't know. She's sure something's going to go south. Darce gets real hot about it. But, she knows more about that SHIELD stuff than I do."

"She thinks that's where it will start?"

Letting out a long breath, Barnes gave him an exasperated look. "You'll have to ask her. I don't know."

Louise came around with their food, sliding the plates on the table in front of them, then the drinks, but after a quick check if they needed anything, she was off again. Clint really appreciated how she didn't linger. She liked to say she had discretion. 

He looked at his plate and grinned. There were were two extra pieces of bacon next to his burger and three slices of avocado. He pointed at his plate. "See? She really does like me."

"Good for you," Barnes said and took a bite of his sandwich. 

"I worked hard for that avocado," Clint grumbled. It took him two years to charm Louise into even sort of liking him. He really probably should be better about tips, though. 

With a disbelieving look, Barnes tucked into his meal like a man who hadn't eaten in two days. And come to think of it, he probably hadn't. He'd been camped in the lobby and hadn't moved. Huh. They should have sent him a sandwich or something. Wow, they kind of sucked. How come Cap hadn't? Oh, hell, he probably had, but Barnes was some sort of super soldier, too. Cap ate easily as much as Thor. Gotta keep that crazy science metabolism stoked. So, yeah, they probably should have sent him a few more sandwiches. Clint made a note to himself to not tell Darcy they'd forgotten to feed her assassin. 

Barnes finished his sandwich before Clint got even halfway through his burger, but before the other man could push his empty plate away, Louise swung back by with another sandwich for him.

"You're not trying to get by on powerbars again, are you?" she asked with a stern frown. 

"No, ma'am," he said quietly. 

"Worried about your girl?"

He shrugged and tugged his new plate closer. 

"You want dessert?" she pressed. "The rhubarb pie's good today."

"Yes, please. And for this guy," he said, jerking his chin at Clint. 

"You got it, hon." Louise tapped the table and walked off. 

"Thanks," Clint said, pleased. Barnes ordered him pie! That had to be really great progress, right? Like they were almost bonding or something? Maybe? 

"Yeah, sure," he said flatly. 

Okay, maybe not a lot of progress, but a tiny bit? He'd choose to believe. 

"So, about Darcy—"

"I don't know," Barnes cut him off. 

"Yeah, let me finish," Clint said. "Look, I get that she's a grown-up agent now, and not my trainee anymore, but she'll always kind of be my trainee. Even when she's Director Lewis and is all ordering me around, she'll still be my trainee."

Barnes smiled a little at that. "Bet she orders you around already."

"That's besides the point," he growled and ate a french fry. Aggressively. "I'm mostly sure I still out rank her. Until she takes over SHIELD, anyway."

For the first time that day, Barnes laughed unselfconsciously. "I give her a year."

"That long?" Clint asked with his own snort of laughter. 

"We've gotta build the base first, and then she'll take over," he pointed out. 

"Oh, good point."

"Though," Barnes said thoughtfully, "she won't oust Director Coulson." 

"Nah. Loyalty. What did I say? Which is good, 'cause Coulson's a good guy. Still, though, she'll pull some sort of oversight position out of her hat." Clint paused for a moment, then mused, half to himself, "I wonder if she even knows that's what she's doing?"

"Probably not," Barnes said. "Well, she does, but she's pretending she doesn't." 

Clint winced a little. Her denial was very her and it came from a very her place that was sort of gnarled, like a broken bone that never set right. It was an aspect of her character that he and Natasha had tried to reshape, but they met only limited success. "Yeah, that's a … that's a thing I guess we should talk about."

Now Barnes looked confused. 

"It's just, Darcy's got this self-esteem issue. A lot of people with that sort of issue really crave approval or validation from somebody else, you know? It's a pretty good way to get at them. But, if she thought somebody was sucking up to her she'd turn, like, vicious. And she's mostly pretty good about spotting when people are trying to play her. I will give that one to Stark, because he's like that, too. They've got zero tolerance for brown-nosers and they can spot 'em a mile off."

"I'm not manipulating her," Barnes growled, his blue eyes going arctic and a little scary; the Winter Soldier making an appearance.

"No," Clint said quickly, holding up a hand. "No, that's not what I meant. I just mean, she doesn't see what she's doing because she doesn't get that she can do that. And she can. And she will. She sees other people so clearly, and she's completely blind when it comes to seeing herself. I mean, most people kind of are, but Darcy makes it a f'in art form."

Barnes's shoulders relaxed and he nodded. "Oh. Yeah, I noticed."

"Good, good. Because, she's good," Clint said, intense, and leaned forward, intent on getting the other man onside. If anybody could get Darcy to believe she was better than she thought she was, it was them. "We just have to convince her she is, you know? Did she ever tell you about Obadiah Stane?"

"Yeah."

Clint sighed, relieved. He didn't want to open up that part of Darcy's history if she hadn't, but he thought it was a pretty big piece of how she was. "As bad as being held by Hydra was, she'd known him most of her life. That messed her up a lot. And it still does."

It was the assassin's turn to wince. "I've seen. She lost it when she got a really good look at my arm. She thinks he sold the tech to Hydra."

Clint let out a low whistle. "Wow, I'm glad I missed that."

Barnes nodded, his eyes deadly serious as he said, "Even Banner looked nervous."

Blinking at that image, Clint tried to get his head back on track. But, it took him a minute as he tried to picture Bruce nervous like that. Banner had a lot of respect for the power that anger could fuel, so Darcy must have really been on the edge. Yeah, wow, was he glad he missed that. 

"Okay," he said after he'd shaken off the image. "So, we know she's in our corner, right?"

"Right."

"So, we have to make sure she knows we're in hers."

"I am," Barnes said, his eyes narrowing like he thought Clint was suggesting he might not back her. 

"Me, too."

"Okay."

"Great," Clint agreed. This felt like good progress. Progress towards what? Who the hell knew, but nobody was shooting at anybody else, nobody was bleeding, nothing was on fire, Darcy wasn't shouting at him. Trouble was brewing on the horizon, but for just a second he let himself think, 'Christ, could they be lucky enough to get out of all this unscathed?' 

That hope didn't linger long, but it was enough that he grinned at the other man. A grin that brightened when Louise brought them pie. "I love you, Louise."

"Save it, Mr. Barton." She cleared the other plates and walked off again. 

"She likes me."

"Keep telling yourself that," Barnes muttered, digging into his pie.


End file.
